Carpet-sweeper.



No. 750,359. l PATBNTED APR. 5, 1904. J.P.HARDY.

CARPET SWEBPER. APPLxGATIoN FILED FEB. s. 1900.

No MODEL. 2 sHBnTs-s1nmT 1.

Illlr PATENTBD APR. 5, 1004..v

J. F. HARDY.

CARPET SWEBPER.

APPLICATION FILED IBB. s. 1900.

Z SHEETS-SHEET -2.

N0 MODEL.

UNTTED STATES Patented April 5, 1904.

JOHN F. HARDY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CARPET-SWE-EPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 756,359, dated April 5,1904.

Application filed February 8, 1900. Serial No. 4,441. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN F. HARDY, of Chicago, in the county of Cook andState of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCarpet-Sweepers; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full,

clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to theaccompanyingdrawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in carpet-sweepers of that classcomprising a casing, a rotative brush therein, and a pan which islocated inside the casing in position to receive the sweepings from thebrush.

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth, and moreparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings, Figure l is a longitudinal horizontal section of asweeper made in accordance with my invention, taken on line.l l of Fig.2, with parts broken away. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof with partsbroken away to show the construction of the driving mechanism. Fig. 3 isa detail of the clutch constituting a part of the driving mechanism,said View being taken on line 3 3 of Fig.' l and breaking' away parts ofthe view tobetter illustrate other features thereof. Fig. 4 is avertical detail section taken on line 44 of Fig. 6, illustrating themeans for attaching the collapsible end of the casing to the rigid partthereof. Fig. 5 is a detail vertical section taken on line 5 5 of Fig.7.Fig. 6 is a lonings-pan being' in the same position as shown in Fig. 8.

As shown in said drawings, A designates the casing, which contains theoperative parts of the sweeper. Said casing consists of side walls a, c,a rear wall c, a top wall a2, and a front wall c3. The top, side, andrear walls of the casing will desirably be made from a single piece ofsheet metal bent to proper form. The front wall is made collapsible andis shown as made from flexible material, such as canvas.

B designates a brush which is rotatively mounted at the front end of thecasing, adjacent to the collapsible end thereof.

C designates a sweepings-pan which is 1o-` cated inside of the casing inrear ofthe brush. The sweepings-pan is made generally rectangular andconsists of side walls c c, a bottom wall c, and a rear pivoted wall c2,having the form of a gate, which closes the rear end of the pan andadapted to be opened when the sweepings are to be dumped from the pan.The said pan is pivoted at its forward end at places in alinement withthe axis of the brush and is supported at its rear end on the wheels DD. The wheel D is made of greater diameter than the wheel Dl andconstitutes the driving-wheel of the sweeper and is connected bysuitable driving connections with the brush, whereby motion istransmitted from the wheel to the brush. Said mechanism is soconstructed that the brush will be driven forwardly during both theforward and backward movements of the sweeper.. The sweepings-pan is notmade the full width of the casing and is located -at one side thereof. Aspace is left on the other side of the casing between the pan andcasing-wall for the driving-wheel D and the connections between the sameand the brush B. Said pan is pivoted at ed on a transverse shaft E',which latter is se- 95 cured at its ends to the side walls of thecasing. The shaft E is made somewhat resilient, so that the wheel Eisyieldingly connected with the casing. The supporting-wheel D' ismounted on a shaft (Z4, which is connected rig- IOO A spring I, havingthe form of a leaf-spring,

is attached at its rear end to the upper wall of the casing, at the rearend thereof, and projects forwardly and acts with a downward pressure onthe rear end ofthe sweepings-pan and tends to normally hold the rear endof the rpan depressed land the brush elevated out of contact with thesupporting-surface. When pressure is applied to the Icasing through themedium of the handle, the spring yields and permits the rear end of thepan to rise and the brush to be lowered to the surface on which thedriving-wheel rests.

Next, referring to the construction of the brush and the manner ofmounting the same in the casing, the parts are `made as follows: Thebrush-core B extends from one side )of the sweepings-pan to the other atthe front end of the pan. B2 designates a short pintle which extendsthrough one of the side walls of the casing and through a pivot-openingin the adjacent side wall of the sweepings-pan and engages anaxialbearing in the brush-core, and upon such pintle the brush rotates.Said pintle B2 is rigidly connected with the side wall of the casing ina manner hereinafter to be described. Between the side wall of thecasing and the sideof the sweepings-pan is interposed a washer b, whichmaintains said parts properly separated. rlhe end of the brushcore isprovided with a metal facing-plate which is centrally apertured for thepassage of the pintle therethrough. Vithin the opposite end of thebrush-core is tightly driven a shaft B3, which extends at its outer endthrough the adjacent wall of the sweepingspan. A washer 3 is interposedbetween the end of the brush-core and the Yadjacent wall of thesweepings-pan, and the shaft is provided with an enlargement, which isdriven tightly against the washer b3. The said shaft B3 extends adistance outside of the sweepings-pan, and to the outer end thereofis"at tached a brush-pinion H, having a relatively wide face.

It will 'be seen that the brush has bearing at, one end on the pintleB2, which is rigid with one wall of the casing, and at its other end hasbearing in the opposite side wall of the sweepings-pan. Said pan ispivoted through the arm C and pintle C2 in line with the brushaxis, andsaid brush is thereby maintained in proper alinement, and the panoscillates about an axis coincident with the brush-axis.

The brush end of the casing, as before stated, is made of flexiblematerial, such as canvas,

and is provided at its rear margin with two side hems a2 a5 and anintermediate hem a, which overlie the side and top walls of the casingat the front ends thereof. Within said side hems are contained -rigidstrips a2 a7, which are attached by rivets or the like to the verticalside walls of the casing and serve to hold the parts of the flexiblewall engaged with the side walls of the casing in place. The upper endsof said strips a2 are bent at an angle to the main parts of the strips,and said bent portions extend a short distance over the top wall of thecasing oneach side thereof and are located in parts of the horizontalhem of the flexible-brush end a2, overlying said top wall. A like rigidstrip co8 is contained within intermediate part of the hein a on the topwall and fastened by rivets or like means to said top wall. The bendingor folding of the upper ends of the side fastening-strips over the upperwall of -the easing, as above described,

serves to strengthen the metal forming the casing at the junction of theside and top walls and tendsto prevent the side walls of the casing frombeing spread outwardly.

The pintle B2, on which one end of the brushcore rotates, is fastened tothe adjacent fastening-strip a2. The outer end of said pintle isreduced, and said reduced part extends through said strip and itsinvesting hem, whereby is formed on said pintle an outwardlyfacingannular shoulder, which bears against the inner face of the strip a7. Awasher a is riveted on the extreme outer end of said pintle, outside thehem a5, and fastens the pintle rigidly to the fasteningfstrip andtherethrough to the wall of the casing. rlhe pintle C2 on the other sideof the casing is similarly attached to the adjacent fasteningstrip a2.In order to prevent the washers at the end of the pintles B2 C2 fromcoming in contact with articles on the iioor which is being swept,cushioning-cords ctw are located in front of the side hems a5 ce2 andcontained, as herein shown, in smaller hems formed from the samematerial of which the hems a5 are made.

The provision of the collapsible end ofthe casing enables the sweeper tosweep entirely to perpendicular objects higher than the' casing, such asthe base-board of a room or. an article of furniture on the floor,andthereby enables thebrush to contact with the floor at the anglebetween the floor and perpendicular objects. Moreover, the presence ofsaidcollapsible end located in front of the brush prevents the brushcoming in contact with' such perpendicular objects and depositingthereon sweepings which may cling to vthe brush. Furthermore, saidcollapsible end of the casing, while permitting the sweeper to be movedclosely to perpendicular objects, prevents the brush from throwing dustclinging thereto outwardly into the room in front of the brush.

The driving-wheel D isprovided with a central hub D2 and is mounted torotate on a shaft IOO IIO

ISO

F, which extends transversely across the sweeping-casing and is attachedat one end to the side wall of the pan by riveting. Said shaft passesthrough the other wall of said pan and extends laterally outside thereofand is attached at its end to the pan-arm C. On the hub D2, which isslipped over the shaft F, is rotatively mounted a sleeve D3. On saidsleeve is rigidly mounted a gear-wheel D4 and a disk D5, the disk andwheel being located side by side on the sleeve and connected rigidly. Ddesignates another sleeve, which is ismounted on the shaft inside thesleeve D3 and rotates thereon. Said sleeve D6 carries a gear-wheel D7and a disk D8, like the similar parts D2 and D5 above mentioned. Thewheel D7 meshes with the brush-pinion H. The said disks DS and D5 are onproximate sides of the wheels D2 D7 and are separated a distance fromeach other. The sleeve D and hub D2 are held from endwise movement onthe shaft between the adjacent side of the sweepings-pan and the. arm Cof said pan. Rigidly mounted on the inner end of the said hub D2 are twocircular plates D0 D10, which are arranged face to face and closelyadjacent each to one of the disks D5 D8. Said plates D9 D10 are providedon their peripheries with oppositely and laterally extending annularflanges l CZ of slightly greater diameter than the disks D5 DS. Theflange Z7 surrounds the disk D, and the flange d surrounds the disk D8.The disks D D*i are provided with peripheral recesses (Z2, constitutingraces, and within said recesses and between the same and flanges CZ d ofthe plates are located spherical rollers or balls (Z3. Said recesses areeach of a depth at one end to entirely contain a ball d3, but shallow atits opposite end, and the shallow parts of all the recesses of each diskare disposed in the same circumferential direction, while thearrangement of the recesses of the two disks is reversed. The

plates D D10 rotate together, and the iange of one of the plates whenthe plate is rotated passes over the balls in the recesses of one of thedisks by reason of their being in the deeper parts of the recesses; butthe balls in the other sets of recesses are pinched between the flangeof the other plate and the shallow bottom of the recesses, so thatrotary motion is communicated to the associated disk and gear-wheel. Areversal of rotation of the plates locks the second disk and gear-wheelto the driving-wheel and releases the first gear-wheel and disk.

G designates a shaft located in the front end of the side walls of thesweepings-pan and above and slightly forward of the shaft F. Said shaftis attached at one end to the side wall of the pan and passes at itsother end through the other side wall of the pan and extends a distancelaterally outside of the same. Rotatively mounted on said shaft Goutside of the wall of the pan is a sleeve G.

Said sleeve carries at its outer end a gear-pinion G2, rigid therewith,which meshes with the gear-wheel D4 on the shaftl F, and said sleevecarries at its inner end a gear-wheel G3, rigid therewith, which mesheswith the gear-pinion H. Said pinion H has a wide face to provide spacefor the gear-wheels G3 and D7.

`The construction of the driving mechanism described is such that whenthe `sweeper is being moved in a forwardly direction the clutchmechanism will lock the gear-wheel D4, so as to rotate with thedriving-wheel D, and said gear-wheel acts through the pinion G2, thesleeveG, and the gear-wheel G3, and the brushpinion H to drive the brushin aforwardly direction. When, however, the sweeper is being moved in arearwardly direction, the said clutch mechanism locks the gear-wheel D7to rotate with the driving-wheel, and said gear-wheel D7 acts directlyon the brush-pinion H to drive the brush in a forwardly direction.

If the brush be rotated at equal speeds both when the sweeper is beingmoved forwardly andwhen it is moved rearwardly, it will be obvious thatthe sweeping efficiency of the brush will be much greater when movingrearwardly than when moving forwardly. It is desirable that theefficiency of the brush be maintained substantially uniform, and I haveconstructed the driving mechanism between the driving-wheel and thebrush to produce this result. For this purpose the gearwheels D4 G3 andthe gear-pinion G2 are made of such size that they transmit a higherspeed to the brush when the sweeper is moving forwardly than istransmitted by the gear-wheel D7 when the sweeper is moving rearwardly.

The sweepings-pan will preferably be connected with the operating-handlein such manner that said pan may be dumped of its contents by the propermanipulation of the handle. The construction by which this result iseffected is as follows:

The rear wall of the sweepings-pan, as before stated, is pivoted upon atransverse rod C3, which is rigidly connected at its outer ends to theside walls of the sweepings-pan. Said pivoted wall acts as a gate toclose the rear end of the pan. C4c designates an upward extension ofsaid gate, which extends almost to the upper wall of said casing andaords a partition above the pan which prevents sweepings from beingthrown backwardly over the pan. The said pivoted wall is provided inline with the spring I with a lug on which said spring rests, so as toexert pressure on the pan. The gate is held in its closed position bymeans of a spiral spring c, Fig. 8, which is wound around the rod C3 andsecured at one end to the casing by means of a pin 07 and with the otherend thereof bearing against the outer face of the gate or wall belowthe' pivot. The operating-handle is made of usual form IOO IIO

and is provided at its lower end with forkarms M M, which are pivoted tothe side walls of the casing. 'The arm M is extended inwardly throughthe wall of the casing in the rear of the sweepings-pan and is providedin its inner end with a horizontal part M3 and a right-angle part M3,forming a crank. The right-angle part of said crank is located in therear of the upward extension C* of the gate and in position to engagethe same when the handle is moved forwardly beyond the perpendicular.ith this construction when the handle is thrown toward the brush end ofthe casing the said crank portion M3 engages the extension C4 and actsto move the same forwardly and the lower end of the gate rearwardly, asshown in Fig. 7, thereby opening the rear end of the pan. rlhe crank-armand the adjacent parts of the pan are so constructed that at this timethe rear end of the pan is free to fall downwardly to permit the properinclination of the pan for dumping the same.

The rear end of the pan is provided on the upper part thereof adjacentto the crank-handle with a rearwardly-projecting arm C3, which projectsover the horizontal part of the crank-arm, as shown in Figs. 7 and 9,and is located normally above the horizontal part of the crank adistance to permit the proper drop of the pan to give the requiredinclination thereto when the pan is being dumped and strikes thehorizontal part of the crank to limit the dumping movement of the pan.The said arm C3is herein shown as having the rear end thereof bentinwardly away from the side wall of the casing for the purpose ofpreventing the same from 'coming in contact with the curved wall ofthe`casing between the top and side walls thereof as here constructed.In case the angle between the top and side walls be a right angle saidarm may be modified accordingly. I rlhe horizontal portion of thecrank-arm affords a convenient stop for the sweepings-pan. Thesaid armC3 is so formed that it coacts with the crank when the handle is in asubstantially vertical position, and the sweeper is lifted by the handlefrom the floor, whereby it holds the cas-` ing and the pan in asubstantially horizontal position, so that it may be carriedwithoutdanger ofthe contents of the pan beingdumped or thesweeper-casing swinging out of its proper lrelation withrespect to thehandle.` The construction by which this result is secured is as follows:The arm C3 is provided on its rear end with a right-angle bend, forminga lateral stop C, which is perpendicular to the side wall of the casing,and said stop C is provided on its Lipper edge with a forwardly-directedhorizontal stop C7. Said stop C3 is just in rear of the upper end of thecrankarm M3, and the'stop G7 when the sweeper is resting on the floor islocated above and out of contact with the upper end M3 of saidcrank-arm, as shown in Fig. 6, but in position to engage said arm whenthe pan drops a short distance, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9. rIhe stop C3,which is in rear of the upper end of the cranlrarm, is so formed as. to'permit the crank-arm and the operating-handle to be swung rearwardlyinto theV operative position for the handle when the sweeper is restingon the floor, as shown in Figs. 6y and 9. With this construction whenthe handle is moved to a substantially vertical position and the sweeperis lifted off the iioor thereby the pan will drop until it is arrestedby contact of the stop C7 with the upper end of the crank-arm,

as shown in Figs. 8 and 9. Said stop-arm will prevent the pan fromdropping farther, and 8O the sweeper will be prevented from tiltingforwardly by engagement ofthe laterally-directed stop C3 with the rearsurface of the crank-arm M3. The sweeper may then be carried in thisposition, and when it is desired to dump the same the handle will bemoved toward the front end of the'sw'eeper until it is out of line withthe stop C7, when the pan may be further dropped until arrested byengagement of 'the stop-arm C3 with the hori- 90 zontal portion M2 ofthe crank. rIhe operation of dumping the pan may be effected by graspingthe'lower front corner of the casing y and the handle and bringing thesame together.

In lorder to permit the pan to have the proper oscillatory movement inthe sweepercasing, the upper edgethereof should be separated from theupper wall of the casing when the parts are in the position shown inFig. 6. In order to prevent the dust from being thrown I OO backwardlyby the brush over the extension CL, I have provided adownwardly-extending portion. C3, which is connected with the top wallof the casing and ts against the rear surface of said upward extensionwhen the gate o r rear wall of said partition is in its normal position.Similarly, a flange .or partition C3 is provided at the upper edge ofthe# side of the pan adjacent to the driving connections to prevent thedust from being thrown I I O over the side walls of the pan and into thespace between said pan and the adjacent side wall of the casing.

As shown in Fig. 1, a dust-shield O is attached to the outer wall of thepan adjacent IIS to the driving connections and extends over the drivingconnections inside of the drivingwheel. The spokes of said driving-wheelare located at the outer side of the rim thereof to provide space forsaid driving connections. I 2O The outer end of the shaft Gr is extendedinto contact with said shield O, as shown in said Fig. 1. Betw een saidshield and the gear-wheel Di around the hub of the driving-wheel isinserted a washer to prevent access of'dust to 125 the drivingmechanism. I j

The upper wall of the casing, at the front end thereof, is turneddownwardly to form a shield P, which extends at its lower end in rear ofthe central axis of the brush to prevent sweepings from falling on topof the brush. The said part P also engages the brush and acts as ascraper to prevent the accumulations of sweepings on the brush.

rlhe material forming the flexible wall a3 is continued rearwardly atits sides to form parts of the side walls of the casing, as clearlyshown ih Figs. 6 and 7. The said wall is held outwardly away from thebrush by means of a spring-guard c, which is attached at its upper edgeto the casing and extends obliquely ndownwardly in front of the brush.Said spring-guard acts to hold the iiexible front wall of the casinginplace and also serves to prevent small objects, such as the 4legs of achair and the like, from being pressed inwardly into the brush anddamaging the same.

As the supporting-wheel D is made of relatively small diameter, it maybe desirable in some instances to provide a shoe, as K, Figs. 5, 6, and7, adjacent to said wheel, which will cooperate therewith to support thepan and therethrough the casing. Such shoe will be found to be useful insweeping soft carpets, such as moquettes or the like, and will tend toprevent theI wheel from sinking deeply into the carpet. Said shoe isabove the level of the bottom of the supportingwheel, so that when thewheel is passing over a hard surface, such as a floor, the shoe will beout of contact therewith. Both wheels D and Dl will desirably beprovided with yielding tires. Said shoe also extends at its forward endin front of the wheel Dl and is curved at its forward end concentric, orapproximately so, with the axis of the wheel D. The purpose of thisarrangement is to enable the shoe to take the weight of the sweeper whenthe pan is tilted to bring the brush in Contact with the Hoor. l/Vhenthe pan is so tilted by reason of the differences of diameters of thewheels D and D and the fact that the axes of the wheels are located inthe same vertical plane, the wheel D will be raised off thesupporting-surface, so that the adjacent side of the casing will dropdown and the adjacent end of the brush will bear with greater pressureagainst the surface being swept than the other end thereof. The shoe K,located as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, takes the weight of the sweeper whenthe pan is tilted to raise the wheel D from the Hoor. The wheel D may,however, be located with its axis slightly in advance of the axis of thewheel D, so as to be approximately in the correct position for holdingthe sweeper horizontal when the brush is in its average or meandepressed position.

In order to prevent the sweepings from entering between the ends of thebrush-core and the walls of the sweepings-pan, plates L are attached tosaid pan and provided with inwardly-extending annular flanges Z, whichsurround and closely t upon the ends of the brush-core, as more clearlyshown in Figs. 1 and 4.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination with a casing and a rotativebrush therein, of a transverse shaft connected with and supported in thecasing, a

.driving-wheel on said shaft, laterally-separated rotative gear-wheelson said shaft, disks on the adjacent faces of the wheels and rigidtherewith, annular gripping-anges rotating with the driving-wheel andsurrounding the disks, ball-races in the peripheries of said disks,balls in said races adapted for engagement by the gripping-flanges andconnections between said gear wheels and the rotative brush.

2. The combination with a casing and a rotative brush therein, of atransverse shaft connected with and supported in the casing, adriving-wheel rotative on said shaft provided with an inwardly-extendinghub, a gear-wheel rotating on said hub, a second gear-wheel laterallyinside of the hub rotating on said shaft,

means for locking one of said gear-wheels to the driving-wheel when thedriving-wheel is rotating in one direction, and for locking the othergear-wheel to rotate with said drivingwheel when said driving-wheelrotates in the opposite direction, and operative connections betweensaid gear-wheels and the rotative brush.

3. The combination with a casing, a rotative brush therein, a transverseshaft connected with and supported in said casing, a drivingwheel onsaid shaft provided with an inwardlyextending hub, a gear-wheel mountedto rotate on the driving-wheel hub, a second gearwheel laterally insideof said hub which rotates on the shaft, a pinion on the brush-shaftwhich meshes with said second gear-wheel, a transverse shaft in front ofsaid driving-wheel shaft, an idle pinion which rotates on said shaft andwhich meshes with the first gearwheel, an idle gear-wheel rotating withthe idle pinion and meshing with the brush-pinion, and means for lockingsaid first gearwheel to rotate with the driving-wheel when the sweeperis being moved in one direction, and for locking the second gear-wheelto ro- A tate with the driving-wheel when the sweeper is being moved inthe opposite direction.

4. The combination with a casing, a rotative brush therein and a pinionon the brush, of transverse shaft connected with and supported in thecasing, a drivingwheel rotatively mounted on said shaft provided with aninwardly-extending hub, a gear-wheel loosely mounted on said hub, asecond gear-wheel rotatively mounted on said shaft laterally inside thehub and meshing with the brush-pinion, disks on the proximate faces ofsaid gear-wheels and rotating therewith, two annular grippingiiangesconnected with the driving-wheeland surrounding said disks, said disksbeingpro- IOC IIO

IZO

vided in their peripheries with ball-races, balls in said races adaptedfor engagement by said gripping-anges, a second transverse shaft infront of the driving-wheel shaft, an idle pinion rotating' on said shaftand meshing with the first-mentioned gear-wheel, and an idle gear-wheelrotating with the idle pinion and meshing with the brush-pinion.

' 5. The .combination with a casing, a rotative brush therein, and asweepings-pan in rear of said brush, of a shaft extending transverselyacross and rigidly attached at its ends to the side walls of the pan, adriving-wheel rotative on said shaft providedwith an inwardly-extendinghub, a gear-wheel rotative on said hub, a second gear-wheel rotative .onthe shaft laterally inside the hub, annular gripping-flanges rotatingwith the hub, Vdisks on tative brush and driving-wheel therein, of asweepings-pan located within the casing, said pan being made of lesswidth than the casing and located at one side thereof, and pivoted atits forward end to the casing in advance of the driving-wheel andsupported at its rear end directly upon the floor, said driving-wheelbeing located between the pan and casing-wall, and operative connectionsbetween the driving-wheel and brush-shaft.

7. The combination with a casing and a rotative brush and driving-wheeltherein, of a sweepings-pan within the casing, pivoted at one end to thecasing-wall in advance of the driving-wheel and supported at its otherend directly upon the floor, said pan being located on one side of thecasing, and said driving- `wheel being located between the pan and theside wall of the casing and provided with a wide rim having the spokesthereof located on one side of the rim, and driving connections betweensaid driving-wheel and brush, which are located within the spacesurrounded by said driving-wheel rim.

tative brush therein, of a pan in the rear of the casing which is madenarrower than the casing, an arm on the pan projecting laterallytherefrom, said arm andthe opposite wall of the pan being pivoted to thecasing in line with the axis o'f the brush.

9. The combination with a casing and a brush in one end thereof, of asweepings-pan in the casing in rear of the brush said pan being madenarrower than the casing and located at one side thereof, adriving-wheel between said sweepings-pan and one wall of the casing,driving connections between the wheel and said brush, 'and an arm on thepan projecting laterally outside of said driving-wheel and piv- 8. Thecombination with a casing, and a rooted at its forward end to thecasing-wall in line with the axis of thevbrush, the opposite wall of thepan being pivoted in line with the axis of the brush.

10. The combination with a casing and a rotative brush in the forwardend thereof, of a sweepings-pan within-the casing in reariof said brush,said brush being rotatively mounted at one end on a pintle whichprojects through the side wall of the casing, a shaft on the other endof the brush having bearingin the opposite wall of the sweepings-pan,and an arm on the `pan projecting laterally outside thereof and pivotedat its forward end to the casing in line with the axis of the brush.

l1. A carpet-sweeper having a casing, the main portion of which isrigidand the brush end of which is made flexible, hems in the rear margin ofsaid iiexible brush end which overlie the top and side walls of thecasing, attaching-strips inserted in the side hems, and fastened to 'theside walls of the casing, said attaching-strips being provided at theirupper ends with bent-over portions which overlie the upper wall of thecasing, and a third attaching-strip in the hem overlying the upper wallof the casing and attached to the upper wall of the casing.

12. A carpet-sweeper comprisi-ng a casing,

a rotative brush in .the front end thereof, a sweepings-pan in thecasing in rear of brush and pivoted to the casing, a driving-wheeldesigned for contact with the floor and rotatively mounted in one sideof the pan driving mechanism connecting said wheel with the brush, awheel journaled on the other side of the pan and a third wheelsupporting the rear end of the casing and located between the sidesthereof. 13. A carpet-sweeper comprising a casing, a rotative brush inthe front end thereof, a sweepings-pan in the casing pivoted in linewith the axis of the brush, a driving-wheel mounted on the sweepings-panat one side of the casing, driving mechanism connecting thedriving-wheel and brush, a supporting-wheel mounted on the opposite sideof the pan, a spring on the casing bearing yieldingly against the panwhen downward pressure is exerted on the casing, and a supporting-wheelat the rear of the casing located between the sides thereof andyieldingly connected with the casing.

14. The combination with a casing and a rotative brush therein, of awheel located between the ends of the casing on asupport, connected withthe casing in a manner to oscillate about an axis coincident with thebrushaxis, a spring on the casing bearing yieldingly against saidsupport when downward pressure is exerted on the casing, and a shoestationary with the wheel and adapted to cooperate therewith to supportthe sweeper.

15. The combination with a casing and a rotary brush therein, of twolaterally-separated IOO IIO

Wheels located between the ends of the casing on a support, connectedwith the casing in a manner to osoillate about anaXis coincident withthe bruslraxis, one of said Wheels being larger than the other, a springon the casing bearing against said support when downward pressure isexerted on the casing, and a shoe stationary With and adjacent to thesmaller Wheel, and having a part which is curved concentric With theaxis of the larger Wheel.

16. The combination with a casing and a rotative brush therein, of asvveepings-pan in said casing which is pivoted in line with the axis ofthe brush, tWo laterally-separated Wheels supporting the rear end of thepan, one of which is made larger than the other, and constituting thedriving -Wheel, driving connections between said driving Wheel and thebrush, and a shoe connected with the pan adjacent to the smaller Wheel,and having a part which is curved concentric with the axis of the largerWheel.

17. The combination with the casing and a rotative brush therein, ofasWeepings-pan pivoted at one end to the casing, and supported at itsother end from the floor, a gate closing the rear end of the pan, whichis provided with a movable partition extending almost to the top Wall ofthe casing, and a stationary partition depending from the top Wallof thecasing and overlapping said movable partition.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention 1 aiiiX mysignature, in presence of tWo Witnesses, this 6th day of February, A. D.1900.

JOHN F. HARDY.

Witnesses:

C. W. HILLS, GERTRUDE BRYCE.

